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Pitt CB Jaremiah Anglin Jr. Found His Home in Pittsburgh

Originally posted on Pittsburgh Sports Now
By Karl Ludwig | Last updated 5/19/24

Jaremiah Anglin Jr. is confident that even if he never played another snap of football in his life, he’d have the support of Archie Collins forever. A bond that transcends football can be hard to find in today’s college football.

“If I take away the coaching aspect, are you still going to support me? Are you still going to check on me? Are you still going to be a great father? Are you still going to help me as a man? And if you take coaching away from coach Collins, he’s still the same person,” Anglin told Pittsburgh Sports Now.

It was Collins’ love and support that swayed Anglin when he entered the transfer portal out of Kentucky, but it wasn’t just Collins. He felt like he found a home away from home in Pittsburgh.

Anglin officially committed to Pitt on April 28, just five days after he entered the portal and a few days after he made it out to Pittsburgh with his father Jaremiah Sr.

Pitt was heavy on Anglin during his initial recruiting process out of Lake Wales High in Florida, hosting him on an official visit in the summer of 2022, but he committed to Kentucky. It was where he needed to be then, but that changed throughout his freshman season.

While it was frustrating for Anglin to watch — injured — from the sidelines last season, feeling like he was perhaps the missing piece in the Wildcats’ secondary, he felt like it was the right time to start over following the spring season.

“I just want to say I do respect the coaches over there,” Anglin said. “I respect the players; those are my brothers. But I feel like with me missing last year, coming back from two surgeries, that just wasn’t the best position for me to play.”

Anglin suffered a torn ACL and partial meniscus tear in his knee and a torn labrum during camp last summer. Two surgeries, a lot of time rehabbing. He had surgery over the summer and wasn’t able to return to practice until midway through the spring. If you count the Kentucky spring game, he got nine practices in.

He entered the transfer portal 10 days later and Pitt — Collins, in particular — was the first school to reach out.

“I heard from a couple of different schools, but my heart was already set on Pitt,” Anglin said. “I’m glad my dad got a chance to see it this time around because the last time he wasn’t able to make the visit. That played a big part as well. I’d be lying if I said didn’t hear from other schools, but my heart was set on Pitt. I’d say they were the first school to reach out and showed the amount of love they did just as I was coming out of high school. I just couldn’t turn down the opportunity.

“Coach Collins, coach Duzz, coach Sanders, the whole staff just showed a lot of love. It feels great to be here, and I can’t wait to work and show people what they missed out on last year. And as a team, I can’t wait to just show them what we have in store.”

Anglin is healthy now, coming off a game-ending pick-six in the Kentucky spring game, and he feels better than ever — or at least since he was in eighth grade.

.@jaremiahhjr went up and stole it pic.twitter.com/6ZFtmR6LkE

— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) April 13, 2024

“Just playing year-round, going from football to basketball to baseball, back to track, back to football, I just never had really a break,” Anglin said. “So, I feel like that was just God telling me you had a lot of body of work and you just need a year off.”

He’s had a year off, his body is feeling good and he’s coming to Pittsburgh without any preconceived expectations. Collins didn’t guarantee a starting spot; he promised an opportunity.

“I trust Coach Collins full-heartedly, and I trust coach Sanders and coach Duzz,” Anglin said. “So, I feel like with this year, just my work ethic, how bad I really want it, I think I can really show people what they were missing last year and the type of playmaker they’re getting when I was in high school is the type of playmaker they gonna get this year.”

Anglin didn’t see any action during his freshman season, obviously, but he isn’t far removed from a standout senior season at Lake Wales in which he recorded 19 receptions for 293 yards and three touchdowns and racked up 62 tackles (46 solo), three tackles for loss, eight interceptions, 21 pass breakups, five forced fumbles and a recovery.

He’s a big outside corner who embraces contact, which is a requirement in the Pitt defensive scheme, but he has a nose for the football. It’s evident that he played quite a bit of receiver during high school.

Anglin has already studied the defensive scheme hard. He sees how Pitt defensive line attacks opposing quarterbacks and the defensive backs make the quarterbacks pay for it. He’s excited for the opportunity to make plays on the back end.

“You’re getting somebody who’s coming in real hungry,” Anglin said. “I’m real hungry. I’m talking about, I’m hungry, but I’m also a supportive teammate. So not only do I bring energy and a different level of support, I’m also bringing a dynamic playmaking to the defense I feel like that Pitt was missing last year.

“They had great guys, like M.J. Devonshire. The playmaker he was on defense, I feel like that could be my role in this defense. And I’ve met all the DBs. We all just already seem like we’ve known each other for years. And we’re ready to really show people that we’re one of the best secondaries in the country.”

Anglin would like to follow in the footsteps of someone like Devonshire, who transferred in from Kentucky himself. Devonshire was selected by the Las Vegas Raiders in the 2024 NFL Draft. In three or four years, Anglin wants to be selected, too.

“The numbers don’t lie,” Anglin said. “Look at the last ten years. They’ve been top five in the whole college football in putting DBs, which is my position in the NFL. I want to be one of the ones who get selected.”

This article first appeared on Pittsburgh Sports Now and was syndicated with permission.

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